The Greenville times. [volume] (Greenville, Miss.) 1868-1917, 1887-10-01
THE CITY OF GREESVILLk
Sketch OF rs Past HlstOry-Fres. nt
Growth and Future Prospects.

thdl lts humanity Is quite metamOr-
phosed. To all has been extended a
hearty welcome and fair show in the
competition for trade. To our new pop.
ulation especially, which is continually
increasing, a retrospective outline Of
the history Of their future home may
prove interesting and will also freshen
the memories Of the old settlers of the
times when We all were younger. We
will not carry our readers back to
sold Greenville;' the ante bellum
county capital, located about mile
below the present site. 1t was a place
Ofrepute however. and was burned BY
the Federal fleet during the war. Be
fore GreenvilloJlsss7 Princeton was the
frontier county site. 1t was situated
near Leota, the Issaquena county
line Washington county then being
co-extensiye with the Yazoo-Delta. As
early as 1888 Princeton was a place of
Importance and the trading point for
the inhabitants, white and red, planter
and riyermen, of "a wide extent of
country.
1t is only little over twenty years
ago that our Greenville, by common
acknowledgment the most progressive
and rapidly growing trade centre in
the State was located and fixed upon
by the people Of the county as the
county site, In 1860 this was done
and Mcssrs Meisner aud Cahal, of old
Grcenville, rolled their houses which
survived the fire, to the present town.
The first store was built and opened by
Ludwig Alexander, WHO died in 1867,
He was a brother of Maf5A alexander,
Greenville is not near the centre
Of the county geographically, being in
the northwestern portion Of the coun-
ty. Its selection as the county site being
determined by the infallible rules
and motors Of trade. II was in the
days Of steamboats,, the natural and
concentred outlet and shipping point
of the Deer Creek, Rattle snake
Williams and Black Bayou sections
Being prior to all thought of railroads
this was conspicuous and influential
indeed the decisive factor in building
up town at the new county site. Still
ii was several years before these adj
vantages attracted much attention o.
mercantile prospectors. <The disastrou,
planting years of 1s66-67 checked the
very decided southwark movement O.
Northoners, chiefly soldiers who hat
seen and become infatuated with tn,
country during the war; But the fin,
crop and good prices of 1868 gaycGrcen
vile its first boom; which continued stea
Oily until the financial crush of 1873
The leading merchants in 1868 wert
Seelig & Co., j. Lengsield & Co., B
llanway & Co., J. Alexander a. Co,
iona Pearce, Lewis & GcoghegaD, Coz
& Everman, f. P. Byrne, II. d. Putmsl
e. Co., M Weiss & Co; who carried gen
eral stocks Of plantation goods. A. i
Finley was the druggist, S. G. Elliott, in
with whom was II. T. Wethorboe, tr
ware and stoves, r. OConnor saddlery
and n. u. johnson builder. Hotel &C
eommodations were furnished at tn,
Courtney House by Carvell
OF all the firms named only two re
main, Weiss & Co., and A. j. Finlay
and they have undergone changes
Members of others have died or movet
away. j. Alexander is still son deck,
but at his country's call now labors il
the field of official duty as his Honor
the Mayor. julius Lengslield, in tha
day Greenville's largest merchant, i
also with us; but finds his profit, o
amusement, in the vocation of planting
The changes and disappearance
in business circles are only in ac
cordsnce with statistic records, al
will be seen by the following fron
the Dry Goods Chronicle:
"Not more than one per cent. 0
the best class ofmerchants succeed
without falling in Philadelphia
Not more than two per cent. of th,
merchants ofNew York ultimatel.
retire on an independence afte
having submitted to the usual OF
deal of failure, and not more thar
three out of every hundred mel
chants in Boston acquire an inae
pendence. In Cincinnati, out o
four hundred business men in bus
ness twenty years ago, five are no'
doing business.D
In 1870 the cost and laborious oil
stacles ofhauling cotton over dirt road
led to the organization of the Greer
vile and Deer Greek Railroad Con
pany. Meetings were held, subscril
tions solicited, incorporation effecte
but nothing was achieved. For abol
that time the country was oycrrun |
glib tongued railroad prosprctors, cha
ters and extraordinary subsidies we
J secured, every town was infested wi
the craze of being the Junction or te
| mimic of vast systems; and under t
! glamour and glitter of these achem
the local and attainable enterprise 4
through. But for this the Deer Gre
road would doubtless have been bu
years before il was.
) IN 1870, january oath, the town "
! incorporated 1t then had apupulati
; Of 800 people; with an area Of about